Court restores custody of 3 daughters to mom

08/12/2025

Court restores custody of 3 daughters to mom

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 8: The Family Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that had stripped a woman of custody of her three daughters, and instead declared the case inadmissible and granted custody back to her. The lower court had awarded custody to the father, citing prosecution reports indicating the girls’ preference to live with him, along with a flash drive containing conversations and messages between the mother and “strangers.” The mother’s legal counsel Lawyer Mohammad Ahmad Al- Rifai argued that the case should be dismissed since the court had previously affirmed the mother’s right to custody. He stressed that the new documents submitted by the father did not provide conclusive evidence of the mother’s unsuitability for custody.

The court rejected the mother’s claim that she had married someone unrelated to the girls, noting that such a claim could only be verified with a notarized marriage contract. It also found the witnesses’ testimonies unconvincing, as they lacked supporting evidence and could not confirm they had seen the mother in person. The court ruled that the audio recordings on the flash drive could not be definitively attributed to the mother, rendering them inadmissible as evidence. In addition, the court emphasized that the daughters’ preference to live with their father did not override the mother’s custody rights, given their young age and the principle that the child’s best interests are the primary consideration.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff